This summer, at Windy Gap, I watched a sixteen year old girl learn to ride a bike. Her Young Life leader was right there beside her teaching her how. Back and forth they went. Shaky knees; fists clenched tightly around the handgrip. The teenage girl kept saying, “I can’t do this; let’s just forget it.” I think she was more embarrassed that a crowd had gathered to cheer her on; now they knew she had never learned to ride a bike as a kid. No one had ever taken the time to teach her.
But this day, on a 80* summer day at Windy Gap, her Young Life leader kept whispering over and over to her. “You can do this. I am right beside you. We are going to learn how to do this. I am right here; I am not going to let you fall. I am not going to leave.”
And so an hour later; she was riding by herself; her leader along with twenty or so teenagers clapped and cheered! I won’t forget that day I watched the story play out.
It is the story of what we do in Young Life. We walk beside kids in life. We show up. We stay; and we whisper in the ears of high school and middle school kids, “You can do this. I am right beside you. We are going to learn how to do this. I am right here. I am not going to let you fall. I am not going to leave.”
We walk beside them so that they might know Jesus; so they can understand the incredible and faithful love of God. Young Life leaders are out there beside kids, teaching them how to ride bikes, and teaching them how to walk with Jesus.
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